I mentioned in my last post in March that I’d barely been scraping the barrel of my 10 mile a week goal due to my back problems.  I’ve now been told that my slipped disk won’t need surgery and should be fixable with specialist physiotherapy.  I’ve been advised to try Pilates as well and to keep on running.

Even before this terrific news I’d set myself free.  I made an internal intention to stop letting my health hold me back and to find more joy in the run.  It must have worked because I’ve started to see the return of the 9:30 minute mile in my short runs that haven’t really been seen since last spring.

The goal of ten miles a week hasn’t been restricting.  It’s set good running habits which I practically ignored before.  I increased the mileage by a mile a week until I hit ten miles a week.  I then focused on making one run a mile longer each week and making up the remaining miles spread between shorter runs with the shorter runs being speed work or hill work.

I managed to do a 10k the week before last for the first time since last August.  It was a wonderfully sunny Saturday and I felt quite comfortable afterwards.  I got a bit of delayed ache a couple of days later but not more than I could manage.  This felt like a huge victory, getting back to 10k again – in my view a proper Long Distance Run length – with fairly even pacing.

It’s a good excuse to be getting into the kitchen a bit more for some tasty treats.  Things I made recently have been a delicious Hot Cross Bacon Bun afterwards followed by a Coffee and Walnut Cake which was more of a Latte Cake as I didn’t put enough coffee in … whoops!

That Sunday I had my debut as a Run Director for Eastville junior pa
rkrun.  After all that training my turn was finally here!  The kids had a great time and because of the sunny conditions it was a perfect day for lots of PB’s all round.

Happy Running,

Eleanor.  

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything to do with running.  I’ve not really been racing this year.  I want to say a huge thank you as the blog has still been getting active followers based on the older posts and that feels great.  I have been finding it hard to deal with the cause of the intervals – Anyklosing Spondylitis.

No one really knows what it is, people can hardly pronounce it most of the time and I’m clearly too young to have arthritis in most people’s high opinion. BUT despite GP’s excellent advise of, ‘do nowt’ I did not let it take my life. I worry about things, sure, but I keep doing them. I keep loving, dancing, writing and being creative. I’ll build back up again. I’ve got a wonderful foundation of old true friends who’ve really shown me their light combined with fantastic new ones I’ve met this year who seem determined not to let me wallow and get me out to things and I’m so grateful for all of them.  My story wouldn’t be so positive without them – and it does get there.

Pain is temporary, pride is forever.

An old running mantra that got me through eight marathons to date.  It had positivity worked up until February 28^th 2016.  In my memory the last day that pain wasn’t normal – you don’t forget a date like that.

I used to be the type that couldn’t even bare to take paracetamol.  I’d wait it out a few days and reassess. Then the downhill started at the top of a kidney infection during which it swelled to an egg sized bruise in my left side.  It took five different types of antibiotics and two months signed off sick to clear the infection.  Mysteriously the pain remained.  Doctor Whally would say, ‘no matter how much investigation we do it might remain forever with no answer.’ She was convinced the pain was Chronic Fatigue related combined with anxiety.  I pleaded it had nothing to do with my stress and that the fatigue was caused by the pain.  During delays for a scan and Chronic Fatigue specialists my leg collapsed sending me to A and E twice.  I required crutches.

Marathon girl … crutches!  I was shocked it could go so terribly bad so quickly without warning.  Made miserable by not being able to run, of being told the scan of my tummy came back with perfect biology, they could see no cause.  X-ray scans of A and E showed no results after checking for Sciatica.

Still I tried to juggle work and my nine year old daughter Holly.  Worrying for our future if I can’t work.  The Chronic Fatigue specialist advised going part time to rest mid-week and spreading running out daily.  After two sessions she thankfully understood that the leg pain was not connected to fatigue and referred me back to Doctor Wordsworth who then referred me onto pain specialists and a somewhat terrifying MRI scan.  Cue thinking of all the worst diagnosis you can bring up on Google.  After weeks of my hypochondria driving my anxiety up the wall the MRI proved what I’d been trying to tell them all along – that I had an illness.

‘Anyklosing Spondylitis,’ said Doctor, ‘You’ve been referred urgently to Rheumatology.’

I was finally validated that it wasn’t all in my head thank you very much.  That Anyklosing causes depression and fatigue by nature.  That I had in my left hip and spine additional bone growth that signified the arthritis.  After six months of nerve pain medication that didn’t work because there was no evidence of nerve pain I could go on to anti-inflammatory tablets called Naproxyn whilst awaiting Rheumatology.

‘A CT scan in early 2015 showed signs of it,’ said the MRI report.  But they weren’t looked for it then so they didn’t tell me.  I could have known for a whole extra year.  I could have been managing my life differently to ensure it didn’t get as bad as it is now.  The pain hit just as I was starting to feel secure and happy in my job and finances.  Now thanks to the NHS’ negligence I face uncertain future not knowing whether this will get worse and what I can do to make life manageable now?

Every time my legs stop working I have to build my life and fitness back to run again.  Or at least just to being able to walk.  So now pain isn’t temporary.  But pride is still forever, so long as I can still walk, I can dance, I can swim and I can stretch.  Life is a marathon and I might not be able to run a fast one in the future but so long as I can still join the crowd and do the best each day I still have my pride.

Thankfully, after writing the most of this post in October, I went onto run the Florence Marathon on November 28th with no negative health outcome finishing in  6 hours 15 minutes.  This makes marathon number nine.  So, my lesson from this is that whilst things can be painful it’s important never to give up on the things that give you joy.  I thought I could never run a marathon again but this proved otherwise with an OK time considering my average.

I am hugely grateful that despite being unable to walk twice this year I somehow finished the year running a marathon.   Met a fellow Southville Club Runner and a lovely lady called Karen who interval sprinted with me at the end. Come back race of all come back races. A big “F**K YOU” to my self doubt!

Again, thank you to all my friends and family, and a thank you to those who kept reading.

xxx

Eleanor (Endeavouring)

On Saturday 18th of June my 9 year old daughter Holly joined me for our first race together at our local park with Rainbow Run.  The route was out and back from around the Water Tower to the Sea Wall over looking the Suspension Bridge.  We dressed all in white and Holly cartwheeled to the start in excitement.

She ran quite a bit more up to and past the colour stations.  These were tremendously exciting and she made sure she got a good hit on each colour, green particularly – one of her favourite colours.  Her only real complaint was that her feet hurt half way through which seemed a relatively reasonable issue all things considering.

It didn’t matter about the time.  Holly found the very best bit getting her medal at the end and then going for an ice cream and victory lunch at Cafe Arabia afterwards.  She understood that she’d earned that and that is something that no one can ever take away from her.  The best bit for me was her saying that she wanted running shoes and to do it in fancy dress next year!  Running bug caught?  I think so!

(Photo credit: Faolan Alley)

As a 10.0 experience run my nutshell of this also got a mention in this weeks Marathon Talk as a kudos for parents getting kids into running.

Perhaps we’ll even get up for a Parkrun sometime 😉

Happy running!

This review is a little late but better late than never …

Runners of the Bristol 10k were blessed with beautiful sunshine on Sunday May 15th 2016. After a light breakfast of toast I strolled down to the Waterfront Hub Bristol Energy’s new office which was perfectly located for the run today.  The Bristol Energy 10k team met there relatively early and chatted over cups of tea and smoothie fruit before heading out to our various start pens.

Once I got to the start line I just had to think that it was only a 5k until I was on the way to the finish line.  I switched up my Garmin screens to focus on per mile than overall distance.  This was a great stress reliever.  It meant I just focused on my yoga breathing and let the body take me on the hot journey from start to finish enjoying each mile individually.  Before I knew it I was at the end again.

It was my best friend Kat’s birthday club night the night before so I had to go out.  I tried my best to call it an early night at midnight but got in when the birds started singing… whoops.  So despite rolling in at 3 am I only went and got a Personal Best of 55:42:0 at Bristol 10k.  How this happened is beyond me considering I was sleep deprived.

As my first race since being diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome this couldn’t have gone better if I’d planned it.

The best bit was as I collected my medal a guy stopped me and thanked me for being his unofficial pacer and helping him get his Personal Best!  Well done to you runner and thank you for including me in your day!

Holly met me at the finish line and enjoyed the pedal powered smoothies at the Hub shopfront! We then went off to the Watershed with the team to celebrate! What an amazing day!

Having checked the Bristol Mind fundraising page we raised a giant £1 000 for the local branch of the charity fighting for mental health which is so important.  This will be matched by Bristol Energy and sent to the charity directly.  Thanks so much to all those who donated with pounds or kind words 🙂

Happy running,

Eleanor.

The Bristol 10k is a race that has been on my schedule since I first started running back in 2013.  It’s local, a friendly event, and fast enough to try for a PB on.  This year is a bit special for me.

I wrote an executive paper to my employers (Bristol Energy) suggesting that setting up a team for the Bristol 10k would be a fantastic endeavor for our first fundraising effort in the local community.  The idea got accepted and I quickly began bothering my colleagues into running it.

I’ve talked about Bristol Energy in my posts a few times but in case you missed the low down:  ‘Launched earlier this year, Bristol Energy, the city’s newest gas and electricity supplier is hoping to save people money on their energy bills. We will be a force for social good too by offering fair, transparent tariffs, championing social equality and reinvesting profits back into its founding city.’

We voted for Bristol Mind as our charity, mental health being close to our hearts.  Bristol Mind works to raise awareness, reduce stigma and promote good emotional and mental health.  Founded in 1965 it is completely independent of the better known National Mind so it receives no fundraising help from them.  This means that all our local fundraising efforts would go directly to the local Bristol Mind.

Visit the Bristol Energy 10k Team Fundraising page – £165 raised so far.

We have such a mixed team and I’m really proud of everyone who has signed up, some of them last minute.  I’m gunning for 55 minutes (a runner at my club says I should go for 52 but lets not push it …) but the idea of being able to raise so much that will be matched by the business is enough in itself.

So we’ll see you very soon on the starting line May 15th.  Our Bristol Energy Hub is right round the corner on the Waterfront if you want to know more.  We’ll be in Bristol Energy shirts on the day!

Happy Running,

Ella & The Bristol Energy 10k Team

Want to know more?

You can watch our Bristol Energy video (that I’m in!) here; https://youtu.be/VvRipM2C1Dk

Or visit our website; https://bristol-energy.co.uk/

The favourite hashtag of Parkrun is #DFYB.  It is important because if you do forget your barcode your run won’t get timed to your Parkrun account.  Getting up that early on a Saturday morning seems a bit wasteful if it doesn’t count towards your Parkrun results.  Parkrun is a free 5k timed run that happens at 9am every Saturday and is run entirely by Volunteers.  Yes, I know, I think there should be a midday one too just for those odd hangovers 😉

Each Parkrun brings you one run closer to the 50 Club after all (or the 10 Club if you’re a Junior) and you can now get points towards the Volunteer Clubs so each visit counts.  When I last Volunteered on a rainy day back in November it was my job to write down the numbers on barcodes that had smudged beyond the scanners capability in the rain.  This happens to worn out barcodes with too many creases from pockets.

Forgotten barcodes, worn out barcdodes or torn barcodes are all a worry in a regular Parkrunners life.  Having only done 9 I can’t say I’m regular but I like the idea that my barcode won’t fail me when I need it most.  As a writer I love paper but lets save those trees.

Instead of printing out a fresh sheet of barcodes each week there is another way.  For those snazzy with crafting you could laminate them, of course.  However, a few weekends ago I chipped in to the Parkrun brand and bought some of the plastic Parkrun barcodes.  The beauty of these is they have the information of health and emergency contact as well.  This means if you take it out with you on whatever run you’re doing your information is on your person that a medic or aider could need.

Plus, they look cool.  I’ve now been dotting them around on key rings, in wallets and clothing pockets.  I tested them out at Ashton Court Parkrun the weekend just gone and it was very easy to scan, I just kept my card in my back pocket as I ran with no hassle at all.

At a small cost of £6.96 for a wallet card and four tokens it’s a perfect present for your favourite runner or a pocketmoney treat for yourself.

http://www.parkrun-barcode.org.uk/

Happy running,

Eleanor

I was informed by the lovely people at Jabra that my time for Athens Marathon  (5:57:59) which I entered into Marathon Talk’s weekly prize draw won a pair of  Jabra Wireless Earbuds.  I’ve never won any competition before so this is exciting stuff to me.  Today they arrived and they look so pretty!

I’m still recovering from Athens but look forward to running with them in the near future.  I am looking forward to not getting tangled up in headphone wires when I run!

#Bestyourbest

#Jsbrasportspulse

Happy running,

Xxx

Eleanor

On Sunday the 8^th of November, after a very early marathon breakfast at Athens Gate Hotel, I found myself in the starting pens at Marathon.  I got chatting with a former Bristol & West AC member who was running his first Athens Marathon and a couple of women from California who were travelling for a few weeks to see their favourite sites.  ‘I’ve never run any marathon,’ one of them said, ‘so we thought if we would train for any it would be Athens.’ There seems to be the general agreement amongst runners that the Athens Marathon is indeed the Authentic.  The lifetime experience to tick off the Bucket List and say, ‘I did that!’

For me it was Athens Marathon Take Two.  After the heat stroke I suffered last time I wanted another chance at getting a better time.  This time round however I had IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) to battle with so the half or so of time I expected to make up from the heatstroke I ended up spending in toilet queues instead.

I must have had a leftover strain from Bristol + Bath Marathon in my right foot.  Two miles in the right inside of my foot started to ache.   It spread the seeds of doubt through me.  Can I do this?  Buses stopped on the opposite side of the road to take anyone from the medical areas to Athens every fifteen minutes.  As I was glancing over at the bus that was coming up to park ahead I saw a man in crutches running with his foot suspended between them.  I saw him powering on and thought if he can do it on crutches I can do it with only a bit of discomfort.  Determination is key.  In my opinion running a marathon is 80% mental.  20% actual running.

I finished in 5:57:59 shaving a couple of minutes off of last time.  Not quite the big PB gain I was hoping for but still an achievement nonetheless.  I’d forgotten quite how challenging the course is.  In my head I thought it was just one big hill towards the last 10k going into Athens.  I was corrected on route with the course rising and falling in nearly regular slopes.  It is not a flat course.  On Strava the total elevation amount was 1, 201 ft which is huge for a road race.

Throughout the run I was surprised how little had changed about the marathon and my experience as a regular holiday goer in Greece regarding the current economic crisis.  The Greeks are still a thriving and giving community.  Their shouts of, ‘bravo!’and giving of olive branches lacing the 26.2 bare route of hills and road with kindness and support.  We all hear cries of, ‘the volunteers were great!’ In races but here the medical volunteers deserve a special shout out for spraying and rubbing freeze pain solutions into my foot and ITB band after that old injury started to raise its ugly head towards the end.  All in all I feel I fought the battle of my own desire to be like, ‘Nah, that’s it I’m out’ rather well.

After I managed a sprint finish (believe it or not) at the Stadium I hobbled home to the Hotel with the help of Mum who’d come all the way to Athens with me.  My foot was twice the size as normal and I could barely put weight on it.  Ouch!  We had a victory dinner of steak, popcorn potatoes and Greek yoghurt, cucumber and mint mousse.  A lot of wine of course!

Things That I Learned At Athens Authentic Marathon 2015;

1. Determination is key.  In my opinion running a marathon is 80% mental.  20% actual running.
2. After 8 marathons there really is no hidden secret to marathon running to stumble across that makes marathon running any easier the more you run them.
3. Never underestimate hills.
4. Never go on holiday in just your running shoes.  Always bring a spare pair incase your fwet point blank refuse to go back in running shoes after your run.

Happy running,

Eleanor

Xxx